St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-16
A BIG GAME OF POKER.
The Stake Played for by a Black
Giant.
HE STAKES HIS FREEDOM.
he Faithfully Serves the Man Who
Won the Game From
Him.

The presence in this city the other
day of an enormous negro named jim
Zeigler recalled as interesting a game
of poker as was ever played in this
county. Jim is perhaps the biggest
man in the Indian territory. being 6
feet s inches tall and weighing 2S4
pounds, well propOrtiOned, perfectly
erect and strong as an OK. This dusky
Hercules has for the past ten years COM
manded both respect and admiration
from half the ChOctaw nation. Over near
Kully Chaba, where he lives alone in
poverty-stricken old dug-Out, his half
breed Indian and desperate neighbOrs
call him Hauta Kalausa (the Black
Giant. and he is treated with defer
ence consequent upon so merltOrlouS
title, writes the Fort Smith, Ark, cor
respondent of the st. Louis Dispatch.
Nobody knows where he came from.
Nobody knows anything of his past life:
but of one thing all are certain, he is
man to avoid at all times. Gossip has
it that at one time he killed
with his fist three deputy United
States marshals who had at
tempted to arrest him for illegal liquor
selling. while at another time he Is said
to have run 240 miles across into the
AraphOe country to escape an armed
posse of United States officials. BE this
as it may, jim is to-day untrammeled
with governmental letters and struts
the Indian country with as much free
dom as the chief of the council.
JIM'S POKER-PLAYING PROWESS
is commensurate with his size. lie used
to sit for whole days beside the rough
Indian ''Saw-log" without change of
countenance. without sound, save the
occasional grunt of disappointment or
approval, without thought as to food.
time or results. He played with an
earnest determination and grim Ieck-
lessnesS that usually won and always
excited a suspicion among the III
dams that the Black Giant was be
witched. So deeply had this suspicion
taken root that no Indian would play
with him alone. The presence of white
men seemed to remove their fear, and
when the Ethiopian lost under such cir
cumstances it was due alone TO the
presence of a Caucasian rival. His
persistent winning has won for
him, beside long ''string," eight
deep scars. One of these, a bright
red mark that stands out with gro
tesQue uglineSS against his black
skin. extends from his right temple to
the corner of his mouth. This was pre-
scented to him by an unsuccessful
Cherokee Indian about three years ago.
Another cash at the hands of an infur-
lated white man in Tahlequah sliced off
half his ear: this combination of scars
giving him a demOniacal appearance
which. added to his tremendous stature,
causes the average Indian small boy to
hide behind his mothers apron or scam
per off in the widest terror. 1t will be
readily seen that Mr.. Zeigler is neither
the beauty nor the pet of his cOmmun-
ity.
One evening about fourteen months
ago four Indians, one VIII t. man named
Bud Tucker and Jim himself met
around the ''Saw-l0g' at Jim's camp to
''go their luck" The game, as usual.
was hula ko buSko'' poker. After the
oklahoma" (whsiky) jug had been
passed around the conventional number
of times, lOungerS dropped in to wit
ness
THE GAME.
Candles were stuck opposite each man
and the game started. HOnorS were
evenly divided toward the first hour. the
Indians having slight advantage.
Then by degrees luck turned Jim'S way.
Toward midnight his success continued,
to the evid; NJ chagrin of the Indians,
who began to mutter disappOintedly as
their strings vanished. Bud Tucker,
however, played more earnestly than
ever. He never lost hope, but now
and then eyed his brawny compel
itOr with hatred so keen that the giant
drew his next hand with undiSguiSed
nervousness, ScOwling now and then so
savagely that the Indians became more
and more nervous, and finally dropped
out about 3o'clOck, leaving the giant
and Bud facing each other to play to
finish. As the first Streaks of daylight
pushed their way between the cracks OF
the dug-Out, the scene inside became
one of terrible earnest malignity.
Tucker refused cards and stood pat.
Big jim drew two cards. Betting be-
gan. After every chip had been laid on
the log. the excitement of the half-breed
spectators found vent in uncomfortable
cries of wonder, mixed with terror.
Many of them instinctively moved to-
wards the door as though fearing
A LOST HAND
Oh the giants part would result in a
general demolition of everything inside
the hut. Under the mask of suppressed
excitement worn by the two players
there ragged a tremendous Strug-
gle between passions of scOrn,
determination and deadly hatred.
Huge knots stood out upon the dar-
keys head, perspiratiOn streamed from
every pore of his barred neck, his breath
came hurriedly and desperately, and his
hands trembled like leaves. The white
man jerked his mustache with increased
vigOr and nerved himself into a half
crOuched posture, as though ready to
spring at his black antagonists throat.
The giant squandered his clothes, his
pistols, his Winchester. his horse and
finally his house and outlay
ing claim, yet the gray
beard again smiled and raised him.
Without a moments pause Zeigler
Kissed the startling proposition that his
life should back his next hand, and that
if he lost he would serve his vanQuisher
faithfully in any capacity he should
name. At the announcement of this I'M
precedented stake a perfect howl of sur
prise went up from the Onlookers, and
before it had died away the Black Giant
WAS A SLAVE
in the hands of his puny rival. Zeigler
held four queens, the white man four
aces. With one glance at his opponents
hand, Tucker fell in dead faint, while
Zeigler, with terrible curse, Shuddered
from head to foot and Stalked out of the
hut. From that day TO this he has
served Bud Tucker faithfully and a
quasi friendship has sprung up between
master and slave. Jim attends to Tuck
er'S farm, herds his cattle and acts as a
whole armed posse in terroriZing the
horSe-thieveS of the surrounding coun-
try, while in compensation he is allowed
to visit the village occasionally and en-
Joy a few days of freedom. He is now
serving the third month of his second
year, and. in conversation with your
correspondent during his visit TO town
the other day, he said that from the
memorable day on which he lost his life,
down to the present time, he had neither
touched a card nor witnessed a poker
game.
THE BEE HIVE BANK.